Orioles’ Jordan Westburg Shares Emotional Injury Admission

The Baltimore Orioles will be without standout third baseman Jordan Westburg to begin the 2026 season, as Westburg has a partially torn UCL in his right elbow that will keep him out at least through April and perhaps longer.

This is a tough blow for Baltimore. However, nobody is more frustrated than Westburg, given how badly he wants to suit up for his ballclub.

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

Jordan Westburg's Candid Comments About Injury Speak Volumes

Westburg was interviewed by Ryan Ripken on March 13 and opened up about he's feeling in the wake of these injuries.

When Westburg was asked about recent videos of him running hard, he said, "Yeah, yeah. That's about all [I can do]. You know, it's slow. It sucks, right? Like, very disappointed to not be on the field. But trying to take every day as a win. You know, I'm starting to take ground balls again, so that's a win. Starting to run bases, that's a win. So I'm like a quarter of a ball player right now. No swinging, no throwing, but I can field it and run," per an X post from Ryan Ripken.

"Like I said, trying to take every day as a win, the little things. And stack them up and hopefully get on the field as soon as I can," Westburg continued.

Baltimore Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg | Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

He then added, "If you don't play baseball, you don't understand that if anybody were to get an MRI on their elbow, everybody's elbow is messed up. For a long time, I just wrote this off as like, we're just ballers. Everybody's got something wrong. You just kind of play through it. It wasn't affecting my performance... It would come and go, sure. But it wasn't a normal thing until this past year."

He added that it was frustrating to have dealt with it for so long before it became an unavoidable issue, which was a "hard pill to swallow. But I felt confident in the direction we took in the treatment, and then now, it's a waiting game. And that's another layer of frustration... just hope for the best at this point."

An update from Jordan Westburg: pic.twitter.com/kvgjzFVTiP
— Ryan Ripken (@ryanripkenshow) March 12, 2026

"I want to be on the field arguably more than everybody. It's easy for me to say that from the bench. But it hurts. It's very disappointing to know that I'm gonna miss out some more months, and know that I'm gonna have to watch from the couch. That stings a lot. And like I said, I'm just hoping for the best, hoping that I can get back on the field this year, in whatever facet.

"If it means I can come back and play every day, great. If it means I have to play every other day and take a backseat role, I'm okay with that. I just want to be a part of the club. So just keep working towards that, and we'll see what happens."

Props to Westburg for being willing to share these emotions he's going through.

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